Taylor Daniel Lautner (born February 11, 1992) is an American actor, voice actor, model, and martial artist, who portrays Jacob Black, the best friend of Twilight's protagonist, Bella Swan. Jacob is a human boy who turns into a werewolf in the film New Moon, where he becomes one of the main characters of the series. In 2005, Lautner became well-known for playing the role of "Sharkboy" in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl, as well as Elliot Murtaugh in Cheaper by the Dozen 2, the 2005 sequel to the 2003 family film, Cheaper by the Dozen. Taylor also played the role of Nathan Price in the action/suspense movie Abduction.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Personal life 2 Filmography 3 Awards 4 Trivia 4.1 Salary 5 External links 6 Comments

BiographyEdit

Early lifeEdit

Lautner was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan to parents, Deborah, and Dan Lautner on the eleventh of February in 1992. When asked about playing Native American character Jacob Black in the 2008 film, Twilight, he revealed that he has some Native ancestry, specifically Ottawa and Potawatomi.

At the young age of six, Lautner became interested and soon started studying karate, training at Fabiano's Karate School in Holland, Michigan. A year later he was winning tournaments, and was also invited to train with seven-time world karate champion Mike Chat. By the time he was eight he was asked to represent the United States of America in the "twelve years and under division" in the World Karate Association, where he became the "Junior World Forms and Weapons Champion". He won three gold medals.

Lautner's acting career began after his martial arts instructor persuaded him to audition for a part in a Burger King advertisement. Despite his unsuccessful attempt to make it into the commercial, he enjoyed the experience so much that decided to pursue a career in acting. Not long after that, he and his family were traveling back-and-forth from their home in Michigan to California for Lautner to audition for acting roles on a regular basis. When Lautner was ten, his family relocated to Los Angeles to allow him to pursue acting full-time.

He continued to flourish in the martial arts circuit; in 2003, at only eleven years old, he was ranked number one in the world for NASKA's Black Belt Open Forms, Musical Weapons, Traditional Weapons and Traditional Forms and, by the age of twelve, he won Junior World Championships. However, at the age of 13 he gave up martial arts to focus on his acting.

CareerEdit

Lautner began acting in 2001, appearing in the made-for-television film Shadow Fury. He subsequently had roles on the series Summerland, The Bernie Mac Show, and My Wife and Kids. He also had a recurring role on Danny Phantom as YoungBlood. He is perhaps most famous for his starring role as Sharkboy in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D, a film that showcased his martial arts skills. He also starred in "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" as Eliot Murtaugh. Lautner has stated that while he has been trying to succeed in his acting career, he also wants to finish high school.

He has had small roles in a number of other television shows and movies, including The Nick & Jessica Variety Hour. In addition to television, Taylor has been very successful in voice-over work. He has recorded episodes of What's New, Scooby-Doo? and He's a Bully, Charlie Brown. Taylor has also been as booked a series regular of a pilot presentation called Which Way Is Up?, in addition to voicing the character of Silas in the animated series Silas and Brittany.

His big break came in 2005 when, at the age of thirteen, Taylor won the role of Shark Boy in the Robert Rodriguez film The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D. He spent three months on location in Austin, Texas filming. Within months, he successfully auditioned to play Eliot, the son of the Bakers' rivals, in Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

Lautner was cast as Jacob Black in the movie adaptation of the book Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

During an appearance at a Breaking Dawn midnight release party at a Barnes & Noble in his hometown in Michigan, Lautner revealed that he would be in a new show with Christian Slater starting in October 2008. The show, called My Own Worst Enemy, was described by Taylor as a mix between Alias and 24. However, the show was canceled by NBC in November.

Director Chris Weitz considered replacing Lautner in the role of Jacob Black for the film The Twilight Saga: New Moon, due to large physical changes that occur in the character following Twilight. However, in January 2009 it was announced that Lautner would continue to play the character of Jacob in New Moon. In February, 2010 he was featured in the film Valentine's Day alongside Taylor Swift. He reprises his role as Jacob in Eclipse, which hit theaters on June 30, 2010. Lautner is also confirmed to return as Jacob in the two-part movie adaptations of Breaking Dawn.

Lautner recently signed on to star in an upcoming independent film directed by Academy Award-nominated director Gus Van Sant.

Personal lifeEdit

Lautner has a sister named Makena. He was a junior at Valencia High School (Santa Clarita, California) for the 2008-09 school year, but tested out of high school and is taking college classes. In his spare time, Lautner loves playing football and baseball, and he is a fan of the Texas Longhorns and Michigan Wolverines. He was a part of the Hart Baseball Program in the Los Angeles area, where he played center field and second base. He also participated in the "LA Hip Kids", a hip-hop dance group, and "Hot Shots", a performing jazz dance group.

As for his dating life, Lautner has dated singer and Valentine's Day co-star Taylor Swift as well as Abduction co-star Lily Collins. He's also been romantically linked to singer/actress Selena Gomez.

Lautner has an intricate workout plan, which was covered by Men's Health, and has a specific diet after developing his body for New Moon. In addition, he still practices and trains in martial arts regularly. He has stated that he is drug and alcohol free.

FilmographyEdit

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2001	Shadow Fury	Kismet (child)	TV Movie
2003	The Bernie Mac Show	Aaron	TV
2004	My Wife and Kids	Tyrone	TV
	Summerland	boy on beach	TV
2005	Cheaper by the Dozen 2	Eliott Murtiugh	Film
	Danny Phantom	Youngblood	TV; voice
	Duck Dodgers	Reggie Wasserstein	TV; voice
	The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D	Sharkboy	Film
	What's New, Scooby-Doo?	Dennis/Ned	TV; voice
2006	Love, Inc.	Oliver	TV
	He's a Bully, Charlie Brown	Joe Agate	TV special; voice
2008	Caught Up in You by Cassi Thompson	love interest	music video
	Twilight	Jacob Black	Film
	My Own Worst Enemy	Jack Spivey	TV
2009	The Twilight Saga: New Moon	Jacob Black	Film
2010	Valentine's Day	Willy	Film
	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	Jacob Black	Film
2011	Abduction	Nathan Price	Film
	Field of Dreams 2: Lockout	Iowa farmer	Short film, with Funny or Die
	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1	Jacob Black	November 18, 2011
2012	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2	Jacob Black	November 16, 2012
2013	Grown Ups 2	TBA	Film; July 12, 2013

AwardsEdit

Year	Award	Category	Result	Role
2006	Young Artist Award	Best Performance in a Feature Film (Comedy or Drama) - Leading Young Actor	Nominated	Shark Boy in The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D
2009	MTV Movie Awards	Best Breakthrough Performance - Male	Nominated	Jacob Black in Twilight
	Teen Choice Award	Choice Movie Fresh Face Male	Won
2010	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Breakthrough Movie Actor	Nominated	Jacob Black in Twilight
		Favorite On-Screen Team	Nominated	Twilight shared with Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.
	Golden Raspberry Award	Worst Screen Couple	Nominated	New Moon shared with Kristen Stewart.
2012	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Action Movie Star	Nominated	Abduction, as Nathan Price

TriviaEdit

Taylor's favorite book from The Twilight Saga is Eclipse.

SalaryEdit

Twilight (2008): $1,000,000

The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009): $4,000,000

The Twilight Saga: Eclipse (2010): $7,500,000 + 2.5% of the profits

Abduction (2011): $7,500,000

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 1 (2011): $12,500,000 + 7.5% of the gross

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2 (2012): $12,500,000 + 7.5% of the gross

External linksEdit

• Taylor Lautner at Wikipedia.
• Taylor Lautner at the Internet Movie Database.